Mount Vesuvius
by Writer207
Summary: This one-shot will answer the question nobody has been asking: how did Gary die at Mount Vesuvius in the mid-season finale?


**Just a little something that helped me procrastinate studying for my exams and blow off some steam. Hope you like it.**

* * *

 **Mount Vesuvius**

* * *

Gary had always wanted to see Pompeii, so when he learned of a Fugitive roaming around the ancient city, Gary took the case with a grin plastered on his face and he went to the city at the bottom of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, basically everything, but for the sake of storytelling, let's assume we don't know what's going to happen.

Gary has been trying to read up on history to do his job even better. So far, he only reached the end of the Western Roman Empire and already, he did not remember every detail he'd wanted to correctly remember. Because reading and re-reading something over and over again doesn't mean you can successfully reproduce the knowledge you're trying to retain. Of course, he kinda knew what was going on vaguely in history, but so far only on the European continent and, again, only vaguely. For example, he knew Caesar was stabbed, but he wouldn't be able to tell you when, by whom and who succeeded him

As such, it can be understood that Gary adamantly believed the volcano was only going to erupt in 139 AD instead of 79 AD. Anyone could make that mistake. Except that the year 139 was the second year of the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius, one of the "Five Good Emperors" who ruled in peace, mostly. In 79 AD, a guy named Titus was emperor and the Romans invaded Great Britain as far up as Scotland. Small difference.

So, anyway, Gary was walking around in the marketplace and looking for the Fugitive. When he felt the ground shake under his feet, he believed it was the Fugitive's fault. Couldn't be the volcano, though – that's only 60 years later. The fact that the Pompeiians didn't seem too bothered by the ground shaking only confirmed that the Fugitive had been around at least long enough for the people to get used to the tremors.

He did not exactly plan this well; every Pompeiian looked at him with a suspicious stare. Why wouldn't they? This weird man was so strangely dressed and they didn't have any glasses back then, either. He tried to find the Fugitive (which had to be nearby, based on the strong tremors) by walking around the marketplace and trying to listen in to the conversations the natives were having. However, they either stopped talking as soon as one of them saw him or they continued talking and Gary only understood half of what they were saying. Latin doesn't play by too many rules: they have cases like the German language and doesn't necessarily need to mention the personal pronouns like Spanish. Adjectives and nouns are usually placed in each other's vicinity, right next to one another. You could also split up your neat sentence and throw it on a pile, watch it transform into a new sentence with an out-of-whack word order and no matter what that order is, any Roman would be able to understand what it said. It's also been since high school that Gary had seen some Latin and the first time he hears it spoken as well. He forgot his translator, but didn't necessarily want to return to the Time Bureau to get it – he'd figure out the language eventually.

He had only been in Pompeii for half an hour when the volcano erupted. It was quite a sight to see. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their heads to the mountain that suddenly started to spew fire and smoke. It was noon and the sky had been clear until the smoke darkened it, making it look like night had already fallen.

Gary was shocked – how could he have mixed up the eruption date? But nevermind right now – he could quickly get out of this city and if the Fugitive didn't have powers that made leaving this place easier, the lava could deal with it. Gary was going to go back.

But first, he needed to evacuate the marketplace because if he were going to stay there any longer, the masses pushing him along, away from the mountain. He sought refuge in an already abandoned house and fidgeted with the time courier with unsteady hands. He opened the window way too quickly and stepped through without even checking whether he saw the Time Bureau ahead.

So many things went wrong. For starters, he forgot to change the dates on the time courier. He was still in 79 AD. Secondly, because his hands were shaking violently, he hadn't actually changed the coordinates on the time courier all that much. He may have wanted to return to the Time Bureau, but in his state of being terrified and making easy mistakes, anywhere that wasn't Pompeii would do. In his haste, he had forgotten there was a button that literally only served the purpose of returning agents to the Time Bureau in moments of sheer terror. Still, it's Gary we're talking about, and haven't we all forgotten something in a moment of terror? Anyway, Gary stayed in the exact same time period and only changed his coordinates only slightly before leaving the city.

Unfortunately, he transported himself to a place just outside the city, only 10 miles to the northwest. Right into the volcano. He'd hoped to end up in Naples, or even Rome itself, to make the journey home from there. But he did not keep into account the proximity of the mountain or that he probably should have punched in 100 instead of 10 miles.

But it was too late. In his haste, he did not look through the time window as he passed through it and he walked straight into the lava. He died there.

* * *

Ava looked at the plaque she had placed in the hallway of the Time Bureau Headquarters.

 _Gary Green_

 _died tragically in a time courier accident at Mt. Vesuvius_

It wasn't a lie. His death had indeed occurred after a time courier accident. Nobody needed to know that Gary himself has created the accident himself – as the director, she had access to all coordinates and times from the time couriers her employees used to keep track of her agents in the field and to provide back-up if they needed it. She needn't add the true reason of his accident: it was Gary. Anyone seeing the plaque would know Gary himself somehow was involved in creating the right circumstances for this accident to happen?

He would be missed.

At least, until Charlie saw the plaque and then saved Gary in order to create the perfect alternate timeline for John Constantine, inadvertently making it so that Gary quits the Time Bureau for some reason and becomes a bartender in Elseworlds' Cisco Ramon's criminal bar.

That is, until John fixes his mistakes, resets his breaking the timeline and things finally go back to normal.

What an exciting day.


End file.
